Poor doctors need healthy and affordable food, warns chief medical officer

The poor must have the means to buy healthy food to fight obesity, said the outgoing medical officer of England.

Dame Sally Davies, who is leaving her post in September, said she was "extremely worried" that it was cheaper for people to eat unhealthy foods.

She told BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs that there should be an environment in which it would be "easy to choose a health option", which means not displaying chocolate and sweets at the checkout counter.

When asked if it was cheaper to buy unhealthy food, she replied, "It worries me a lot."

"The poorer you are, the higher the density of fast foods that do not contain healthy foods.

"We need to make sure the poor can afford a healthy grocery shopping basket. It means low fat, calories and salt, and it's not easy yet. "

Dame Sally also praised a campaign led by Cancer Research UK to increase understanding of the link between obesity and cancer.

The campaign was criticized for drawing a parallel between smoking and obesity, using pictures depicting a pack of cigarettes with the slogan "Obesity is also a cause of cancer".

Dame Sally, however, said people should be honest about the problem and not "pretend that people are not overweight or obese".

She added, "Right now we are running a wonderful Cancer Research UK campaign.

"Obesity causes cancer just like smoking. It causes heart disease, diabetes and many suffering for families.

"We have to look at how we can help people not become obese."

When asked if she felt sympathy for the "hurt and upset" by the ads, she replied, "Yes, but we also need to understand that this has a significant impact on their health and their health." mental.

"So we need much better weight management services for people, easier to access in the community, who are not ashamed, who say how we can help you do what you want to do."

Dame Sally also told presenter Lauren Laverne that young doctors work "very heavy hours" and do not get enough pastoral or physical support.

When asked what she thought of the support and training offered to young doctors, Dame Sally said, "I'm not happy about that now.

"Because of the system of positions we have put in place, we have young doctors who work very hard. Pastoral support and physical support have been removed.

"So they may be well trained, but the pastoral part is usually in England, not as I would like.

"We need to find more humanity for our staff. If we want our doctors to have a humanity with patients, we need to show them, from the NHS to hospitals, to general medicine. "

Dame Sally, chief medical officer for nine years, will take up her new duties as a Master of Trinity College in Cambridge in October.

Desert Island Discs is on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 4 Sunday at 11:15.

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